Age and Gender - Helena

I think that a society without social differentiation due to age and gender would not work. The society needs for example age limits since a child cannot be treated the same way as an adult, they simply do not have the same ground and experience to rely on.

My life would vary a lot if age and gender did not matter. I think this since I am a baby sister who has two older brothers. This means that I am both the youngest and the only female sibling. I feel that I have been treated with greater kindness since I seem to be so innocent due to my situation. Even though I started just as many fights as my older brothers they were the ones who usually got the blame, I did not need to take the responsibility since they should be more mature. From this experience I can say that age and gender matter since me and my brothers were treated differently by others. I think that gender is significant in elementary school as well. Girls are usually more accepted since boys are seen to be the ones shouting and fighting in the class room.

If gender did not matter one positive effect would be equal salaries. Today men get more paid than women even though they do the same amount of work. I think that this is something that has followed the society a long time since physical work, where men managed more than women, was more common earlier. We have to admit that males do have advantages in physical power; they have easier to build muscles etc. One positive effect if age did not matter would be that you are judged by your personal skills and not by your age. Some companies hesitate to hire young persons due to their lack of experience while other might hesitate older persons because they might retire soon.

I think that it is hard to point out what the negative effects of the unimportance of age and gender would be. But I think that the social differentiation due to age and gender has a logical background. Since we are different maybe we should not be treated the same way? Of course I do not mean that anyone should be disparaged because of their gender and/or age but maybe we are supposed to complement each other.


That was all for me
H.